Worried About Having a Bad Duct Cleaning Experience?Home Dust Mite and Allergy Information
Dust Mites and Allergies in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Areas of TX
Dust mites can be found in your air ducts, linens, and carpeting, and cause cause or aggravate allergy problems. Dust mites are microscopic creatures that live in normal house dust. Even if you keep your home very clean, skin, hair, food, and fecal matter are still present in your ducts for the mites to feed on. Know to allergists as HDM, dust mites true name is dermatophagoides farinae. Asthma, a serious respiratory problem, is often caused and made worse by dust mites. Adult dust mites have 8 legs whiledust mites in the larval satge have only 6. The mites themselves each have a very short lifespan ranging only about 19-30 days for males. Since the females are responsible for laying eggs, they live longer than the males, up to 60 days.
Dust mites will not bite your sting you. Generally dust mites live on the dust formed on shed human skin cells. The mites then feed on the 0.3 to 0.45 Kg (0.5 to 1 lbs) of skin that people shed each year. Human sweat and saliva are the main reasons dust mites live in beds and blankets. Even though they do not bite, do not think that dust mites cannot harm you because they are a source of the allergens that can cause asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and dermatitis. Present in all dust mite poop is the enzyme DerP1, which has been proven to be the source of many allergies.
Air duct systems trap a lot of dust, but not many mites live in them because the mites like a humid environment. Air ducts are a huge source of the dust particles that the mites live off of however. Most heating and cooling systems do circulate air all around your home. This re-circulated air provides more food for the dust mites.
Below are a number of good ways to control dust mite populations:
- Purchase a HEPA filtered vacuum and use this to clean your home on a regular basis.
- Dust any surface that food is eaten on.
- Clean and sanitize bedding, upholstery, drapes, and linens regularly.
- Replacing carpeting with wood or vinyl flooring is a good idea.
- There are sheets and pillow cases that you can buy that are anti-allergen.
- The freezer can be used to kill mites living in your children's plush toys.
- Dust mites have a hard time living in a house if the humidity stays below 70%.
No one thing is going to completely remove dust mites from your home, but following the above instructions will help considerably.
Well, that wraps-up our dust mites article. Hopefully you have a better handle on what the operation involves and what you might look for in an ductwork cleaning company. Since most duct cleaning companies also clean dryer vents, you might want to read our dryer vent cleaning tips article as well. Having your dryer vent cleaned while the technicians are still at your home cleaning your air ducts, will save you money.
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